Comments on THe original 12

From “Quiet Please"...An Appreciation By Ron Barnett, the very nice article in the links section:

"Originally, there were twelve Quiet Please shows in general circulation; the most famous of which was, "The Thing On The Fourble Board" .... considered by many to be the best horror show ever broadcast. "

I am trying to figure out what were the original 12 episodes available. I can only come up with the following that I had in my collection and devoured back in the 70's when I first fell in love with the show.

1. Fourble2. Let The Lilies Consider3. Clarissa4. A Red And White Quidon5. The Pathetic Fallacy6. And Jeannie Dreams Of Me7. Whence Came You?

Does anyone else know what the remaining 5 of the original 12 were? I only had these 7 in my collection.All of these were in excellent quality if I remember correctly. I still have them on reel-to-reel tape and am now in the process of obtaining a reel-to-reel player to dub them onto cd. These are probably better quality than most copies floating around today because their 70s vintage puts them much closer to the original source. By the way, Fourble was on an LP years ago and was in perfect quality in this form. I can’t remember what label it was. I think it was Mark X or something like that.

According to one reference source I saw, "Valentine" was among the original 12. According to the December 1992 edition of Jay Hickerson's The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to All Circulating Shows, the 19 QP episodes in circulation at that time were:

The Pathetic Fallacy - A Red And White Guidon - Whence Came You? - Clarissa - Let The Lilies Consider - It is Later Than You Think - The Thing on the Fourble Board - 3,000 Words - The Third Man's Story - Symphony in D Minor - And Jeannie Dreams of Me - Good Ghost - One for the Book - My Son, John - Valentine - Where Do You Get Your Ideas? - If I Should Wake Before I Die - Shadow of the Wings - The Little Morning

I remember in the early 1990s hearing the first twelve and thinking how horrible it was that the rest of the series wasn't around. Then hearing that the widow had disks and MIGHT release them... and now we have almost all of them. It's a dream come true. (Now if only all the Witch's Tale and The Hermit would resurface, though they don't compare to the great writing and acting of Quiet Please).

Anyway, here are the ones I recall:

The Pathetic Fallacy - A Red And White Guidon - Whence Came You? - Clarissa - Let The Lilies Consider - The Thing on the Fourble Board - And Jeannie Dreams of Me - My Son, John - Where Do You Get Your Ideas? - If I Should Wake Before I Die - Shadow of the Wings - The Little Morning

There were some others in that list of 19 that seemed familure, but I think that's because Cooper would mention titles of future episodes and it's the title I heard, not the program. But I distinctly remember the plots to all the above except "If I Should Wake Before I Die". So Maybe I'm confusing that one for "One For The Books" which I seem to recall was story about a watch that could turn back time for a guy in the military. If that's the actual plot, swap those two and that would be your completed list.

I have a list at home of all my older recordings from the 1990s, so I can probably confirm this is there is still an interest in finding an answer. (Email me if so.)

"If I Should Wake Before I Die" was the first episode I ever head... that was on a "When Radio Was" episode in the early 90s (actually it was the only Quiet Please I heard until I came across it online). The funny thing is that I remember finding it a little dry and boring (and I still don't like that episode much)... yet it seemed creative enough that it had potential and it stuck in my mind so that I never forgot it.

(In referenced to my remarks two posts back) Actually, now I DO remember hearing "If I Should Wake Before I Die" way back before the other 78 or so episodes resurfaced, and it was kinda boring up until the very end of the story, and then WHAM! It knocked me flat with a wonderful twist ending. I can still remember where I was when I heard that ending, it left such an impression. (In the living room, next to the Piano.) That's the remarkable thing about Cooper, not all his stories were perfect, many had flaws, but they all seemed to have at least one really good idea in them that stuck with the audience. It reminds me of composers that always include at least one theme in the symphany that will haunt the audience as they leave. The tune they can't get out of their heads...

It's a shame to think that Cooper probably went to his grave believing his work was overlooked and forgotten. He must have wondered if it was really as good as he thought it was. I believe he HAD to know it was the best writing around when he wrote it. Just the fact he prevented the overacting so common in all the other radio shows at the time proves he was aware of how his show sounded compared to others. But to have the show cancelled, and then (seemingly) forgotten, it must have made him suspect he wasn't that good after all. I guess the presence of this site and forum indicates otherwise!

I can't help w/ the list, as most of my episodes have been procured rather recently on MP3. I do know that the LP w/ Fourble Board was released by a company called Radiola. I got the record from the public library during the 70's & recorded it to casette back then. I also got a catalog from them at the time, and ordered as many OTR shows as my meager means allowed. One of the episodes I purchased was "Jeannie", and for years those were the only two examples of this wonderful series that I had heard.

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